OAP aged 75 jailed for killing husband and burying body in goldmine

Alice Uden shot her first husband in the back of his head with a rifle while he slept then went on to live a quiet life

Killer: Alice Uden killed her husband as he slept then buried body in a mineshaft

A 75-year-old woman has been jailed for life for killing her husband and burying him a in a gold mine - 40 YEARS AGO.

Frail Alice Uden had long since remarried and was living quietly in Missouri, USA, when she was arrested a year ago for the historic killing.

She stood trial and was found guilty in May of second-degree murder in the shooting death in Wyoming of Ronald Holtz in 1974 or 1975.

She was arrested alongside her second husband, Gerald Uden, who was himself convicted last year of the 1980 killing of his ex-wife and her two young sons, and sentenced to life in prison.

Court documents do not explain if there was any connection between the murders of their spouses and their later marriage.

Prosecutors said Mrs Uden used a rifle to shoot her first husband of several months in the back of the head while he slept, but defense attorneys argued she killed him after he flew into a rage and threatened to harm her toddler daughter.

Allegations about Holtz's death emerged during a probe by a Wyoming cold case team into the disappearance of Mr Uden's ex-wife, Virginia, and her sons.

A witness in that investigation said Mr Uden's current wife, Mrs Uden, had confessed to shooting Holtz, stuffing his body into a barrel and burying it in an abandoned mine on Wyoming ranchlands.

Mrs Uden divorced Holtz in 1975 in a default judgment after he could not be located. Wyoming authorities recovered his remains last August and found he had died of a gunshot to the head.

Laramie County District Attorney Scott Homar had sought a minimum of 20 years in prison for Mrs Uden, while her lawyer argued for a suspended sentence that would see her get probation. But the state judge opted for life.

On Monday the defence urged the court to consider the message it was sending to society in handing down a punishment for a woman who was old and sick and had killed her abusive husband in self-defense.

Mr Hoad said: "I told the court the message we don't want to send to society is that you cover up a crime long enough and you'll get away with it with very little punishment."

Mrs Uden's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.